Munsley

1893 and 1894 Woolhope Papers: ‘In the churchyard is an old yew tree, an account of which appeared in the Hereford Times of March 12th,1881, written by Rev. S.Jenkins, who was the curate here. He calculated that from its girth of 23ft 3ins at the base it was planted about 825A.D., and, in consequence would be over 1,000 years old, and be growing during the Saxon Heptarchy’. Girth was also recorded in 1894 as 24′ at 5′.
April 1988 – Nicky Robinson and Richard Taylor: In a letter to David Bellamy, responding to a request in the Country Living magazine, wrote that girths at 3′ and 4′ were each 27.5ft. They added that the girths may be a little less because the trunk was difficult to measure as it was very whiskery. A ps to their letter stated that ‘a book in the county library says that it was 24′ at 5′ above the ground in 1902.
April 1998 – Tim Hills: The yew continues to flourish, with a fine clean bole and dense foliage contrasting with the delicate blossoms in the surrounding orchards. I recorded approximately 27′ between 2′ and 3’.
October 2015 – Peter Norton: The large female yew grows near the northeast corner of the church. Its once clean bole now has much growth, the canopy looks healthy, while the ground around the base of the tree is riddled with rabbit burrows. A girth of 26′ 10” (818cm) at 18” was recorded (height taken from the south side of the tree) with several nails acting as a guide.
March 2018 – Paul Wood: The most notable difference is that the bole is now 60 to 70 percent invisible at ground level, with the twiggy growth previously noted now becoming well established. I noted that some cut branches in the canopy were hollow and assume they were removed to prevent possible damage to the rest of the tree. The tree looked healthy with thick deep green foliage. The twiggy growth prevented measurement.